ASU secures second Sun Belt Conference title

JONESBORO  Arkansas State secured its second-consecutive Sun Belt Conference title in dominating fashion, scoring on its first seven possessions and rolling up 512 yards of offense in a 45-0 victory against Middle Tennessee on Saturday.

Quarterback Ryan Aplin passed for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns on 19 of 21 passing, while running back David Oku rushed for 102 yards and 1 touchdown on 19 carries.

Middle Tennessee (8-4, 6-2) was limited to 203 yards and shut out for the first time in school history in a Sun Belt Conference game. Arkansas State (9-3, 7-1) limited quarterback Logan Kilgore to 114 yards on 15 of 26 passing. Blue Raiders running back Jordan Parker added 77 yards on 18 carries.

The Red Wolves will not know their bowl destination until 7 p.m. Sunday, with the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala., having the first crack at inviting the Red Wolves. The Liberty Bowl is also in play.

Liberty needs 9-3 Arkansas State or Ole Miss to fill seats with Tulsa bringing around 15,000 as they did against Fresno State in 2005. However, a source reported that ASU was not even in the mix for Memphis, undoubtably because few fans would be expected to book an overpriced hotel room off Beale Street. For A-State, it would be a proper in-your-face to the New Orleans Bowl and the feckless SunBelt leadership for putting ULL in the SBC #1 slot a week before A-State won their outright championship today in front of over 32,000 in Jonesboro.